In an increasingly interconnected world, nomadic users require efficient and accurate ways to identify preferred services. Nomadic users are characterized by frequent changes in location and how they access services. For example, a business traveler may be nomadic when he commutes to work: the traveler switches between a wired network, a wide-area wireless network, a cellular network and finally a wireless LAN back at the office.
Preferred services are services of interest to the nomadic user. For example, a preferred service may include coffee shops, nearest subway stations, photographic film developers, printer services, and restaurants, amongst other preferred services.
However, nomadic users face several challenges. It is often difficult to characterize a user's present position, and because of this, it is difficult to identify the user's preferred services near their present position. Moreover, a nomadic user's needs, e.g., currently-sought preferred services, may change with respect to their present position, which affects timely and accurate notification about the preferred services. Additionally, as nomadic users' current location, preferred services and/or currently-sought preferred services may dynamically change, nomadic users need efficient ways to record and manage information about their current location, their preferred services, and their currently-sought preferred services.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.